A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
1. Field of Invention
Preferably the clip is a cylindrical shape that matches a cylindrical body of the vibrator. The motor includes a contact pad type connector at the end of the motor where the spring type connector contacts the motor.
The present invention relates to mounted electrical devices, and, more particularly to the mounting of an electronic vibrator on a PCB board or other surface.
2. Discussion of Background
Various mounting devices such as brackets or other appliances are used to mount electrical or electronic devices on the surface of a printed circuit board. Some of the mounting devices not only perform the mechanical function of mounting the device to the board, but electrical connections are provided for interconnecting the device to appropriate circuit traces on the board.
One such mounting means is a motor-mount bracket for mounting a small motor on a printed circuit board and interconnecting leads or terminals of the motor to appropriate circuit traces on the board. For example, Zuin, U.S. Pat. No. 5,749,737 provides a bracket for mounting a motor device on a PCB board that includes electrical connections. Typically, motor-mount brackets include a dielectric housing such as of molded plastic or the like. The housing includes a receptacle for mounting the motor, and contacts are provided on the housing for interconnecting the motor terminals to the circuit traces on the board.
Motor-mount brackets of the character described above are used in a wide variety of applications. In some applications, the assembly may be subjected to considerable physical abuse. One such application is in a pager wherein a vibrator motor typically is mounted on a printed circuit board. The pager must withstand considerable physical abuse such as drop tests or other specified parameters. Consequently, the dielectric housing must be quite robust to maintain the motor in its receptacle. This causes problems not only in the dielectric housing taking up too much xe2x80x9creal estatexe2x80x9don the printed circuit board, but the base of the housing must be relatively thick and, thereby, presents a relatively high profile for the overall bracket structure. Solving these and other problems in mounting the electrical devices has made the manufacturing process of devices with mounted electrical devices more complex than might otherwise be necessary.
For example, in Zuin, a motor mount bracket 100 is constructed of a dielectric housing for holding a motor 110. Zuin""s motor mount bracket includes a front wall 120 and rear wall 125, spring fingers 46 for embracing the motor 110. Electrical contacts 140 and 145 engage terminals on opposite sides of the motor 110. Therefore, it can be seen that during the manufacturing process, a motor being mounted to the mounting bracket 100 must be oriented such that the electrical contacts are aligned with and engage the terminals on opposite sides of the motor.
Therefore, there exists a need for improvements in the design of motor mounts. These improvements are needed to make the mount itself better and to better facilitate the manufacturing process.
The present inventors have realized that electronic devices that are easily mounted into mounting brackets, and maintain a low profile gain the advantages of a smaller total area of a finished product and are of lower cost to produce. In addition, the manufacturing process is improved if the mounting bracket does not require specific orientation of the motor to the brackets. The present invention provides a low profile mounting bracket that requires no special orientation of the electronic device being mounted. Preferably, the invention is practiced in the mounting of a motor type vibrator or axisymmetic vibrator to an electronic printed circuit board (PCB).
The motor mount includes a clip for holding the vibrator and a spring contact. The clip and the vibrator make contact and establish a first electrical connection. The spring contact makes contact with a bullseye contact pad on an end of the vibrator establishing a second electrical connection. The spring contact and clip are electrically isolated and provide positive and negative electrical contacts for operation of the vibrator. Portions of the vibrator held by the clip and contacted by the spring contact of the motor mount are also electrically isolated and are attached to the internal electronics of the vibrator. Preferably the clip is a cylindrical shape that matches a cylindrical body of the vibrator.
The present invention is embodied as a motor mount, comprising, a low profile base, a clip holder connected to said base, a contact having an electrical connection not electrically connected to said base, wherein said clip holder is configured to hold a motor and make a first electrical connection with the motor, and said contact is configured to make a second electrical connection with said motor.
The present invention includes an electric motor, comprising, a housing constructed of an electrically conductive material and connected to a first electrical contact of said motor, and a bullseye contact pad type connector constructed of an electrically conductive type material and electrically isolated from said housing, wherein said housing and said bullseye contact pad type connector are configured as first and second exterior terminals for providing electricity for operation of the electric motor.
The present invention includes a method of mounting a motor to an electrical device, comprising the steps of, mounting a low profile motor mount having a clip style motor attachment and electrical contacts that do not require motor and electrical contact alignment to a portion of the electrical device, electrically connecting the electrical contacts to a power line and ground of the electrical device; and snapping an electrical motor into the clip style motor attachment.